Returning to the Field
by Clint Cooper
Summary: It has been a while since Ultron was defeated and Natasha runs into Clint whilst on a mission. But something seems different. Is it the divorce? Or is it something else?
1. Chapter 1

Natasha was on a mission in Washington. She was sent there to protect the president during a speech and was wondering around the city until she was called in. She stopped in a restaurant to get some lunch where she saw a familiar figure in sunglasses reading a newspaper.

"Clint?" she walked up to him. The last she had heard about him was that he was spending a lot of time in his farm with his wife and children.

Clint put down his newspaper and looked at her. "Natasha?" he was shocked "What are you doing here?"

She sat down across from him and began to explain. "I'm on a mission to protect the president during a speech. Can't explain why because….."

"It is confidential." The archer interrupted "I've been trained so I know the official mission confidentiality procedures."

The two sat awkwardly for some time. Natasha was tapping her fingers on the table whilst Clint was gradually looking back down at his paper.

"Here is your barbeque pizza." A waitress came up to Clint and put a plate in front of him.

"Thank you." Clint said and the waitress.

"Can I have some?" Natasha asked.

"Sure." Clint said. The two sat in silence again as they ate.

"So…" Natasha tried to begin a conversation after her first slice "How is life?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Hawkeye looked away from Natasha and down at the table nervously.

"You used to tell me everything and now I don't even get anything." Natasha complained "Just tell me something." Natasha looked at Clint hoping for clarification.

"How are you and Banner?" Clint changed the topic.

"Banner is missing and I don't want to discuss it anymore." Natasha said.

"Hypocrite." Clint said.

"What?" Natasha was shocked.

Clint looked at his watch as if he were looking at the time and said "I'm done here." He got up and threw some money down on the table. "This should pay for half of the pizza." Clint walked quickly away from the restaurant. Natasha didn't dare follow. She'd realised that she'd struck an emotional chord and decided it was best to just leave it. She finished the pizza, paid and left.

She went to where the speech was being held at an outdoor podium in front of some of the most important government officials in the country. She shook hands with the president, which was nothing for her, and stood behind him as he was giving the speech. She looked around the crowd for any danger. The truth behind the mission was there were some rumoured threats around the day but no one was meant to find out as to stop any unnecessary panic. She looked around the crowd routinely and near the end of the speech she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. It was someone grabbing a gun out of their pocket. They were aiming it near the podium and were going to pull the trigger…

Black Widow reacted instantly and pulled the president out of the way. A shot was fired and she rushed the president into a protective area. She looked around and saw the shot fired wasn't aimed towards the president but someone in the front row of the crowd. An army general was lying on the ground with a large blood stain quickly forming around his chest. Other security and medical officers ran towards him so she stayed away as she needed to stick with her mission to protect the president.

"Are you ok sir?" Natasha asked.

"Thank you yes I am." He responded.

Natasha felt disappointed she didn't end up seeing where the assassin went to after the shot was fired. She hoped that someone else saw and that they caught him.

Later that day Natasha was walked into a meeting room where Nick Fury and the President were sitting down in.

"I'd like to formally thank you for the way you reacted and saved my life." The President told Natasha.

"Thanks Sir but I never saved your life." She told him.

"What?" Fury asked with a confused expression on his face.

"You didn't see what happened." She began to explain. "They weren't aiming for the president. They were aiming for the general who was shot. How is he by the way?"

"He has been taken to emergency care and has a high chance of living." Fury explained.

"We need to catch the assassin right away." The president said to Fury. "You saw him right Natasha?"

"Only from a distance but he had brown hair and was obviously trained in….." Natasha stopped herself. "You know I saw Clint earlier today in Washington."

"What is Clint doing in Washington?" Fury asked himself.

"Why would Hawkeye want to kill someone?" The president asked using the archer's fan name.

"He was acting very suspiciously when I met him." Natasha explained "He wouldn't tell me anything."

The office door opened and the three of them looked around quickly. It was Maria Hill who walked up to Fury.

"Sorry for interrupting." she said "But Clint Barton is here to see you."

"Don't let him in." Natasha said instantly "I'll go talk to him." Natasha followed Maria out of the room and towards a waiting area of the building where Clint was reading one of the gossip magazines that was on a pile on a nearby table.

"Did you hear Louis Tomlinson is having a baby?" he asked.

"What are you doing here Clint?" Natasha asked instead.

"I am disappointed in you." Clint shook his head as he put the magazine down "The Natasha I knew would have saved the president, the general and would have caught the guy and no one in the crowd would have known anything was wrong."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Clint please just tell me why you are here."

"I caught the shooter."

"Really?" Natasha almost smiled. "How? Where?"

"I decided to see the job you were doing at the speech and saw him running away so I followed." He explained "Then I shot him in the foot with one of my arrows."

"Wow."  
"He couldn't run anymore so I caught him." He said "I brought him in and now he is in one of the SHIELD captive cells."

"I'm impressed." Natasha said.

"Impressed that I did your job." Hawkeye laughed. "It was great to get back out into the field."

Natasha looked sternly at him "My job was to protect the president and that is exactly what I did."

"Natasha." Clint said.

"Yeah?"

"I can't believe you thought it was me."

Natasha looked at him surprised. How did he know that?

Natasha, Clint and Nick Fury were down in the holding cells located deep underground in SHIELD's new headquarters. They were standing in front of the assassin who was handcuffed and sitting on a chair in front of them. Natasha could see a bandage wrapped around his right foot and smiled a little.

"Why did you shoot the general?" Fury asked.

"Why do you care?" the guy asked.

"Because he almost died!" Fury shouted.

"I'm not saying." He said "Just leave me by myself.

"Let me handle this." Clint said. He grabbed a bow and arrow and aimed it straight at the assassin.

"Why did you shoot him?" Clint said angrily "Tell me or you'll have no foot to stand on."

"I'll tell you once I've had a meal." He said . "I'm starving."

"No eating until you tell us." Natasha said sternly.

"Too bad." He said. He grabbed something that he had hidden in his hands which he threw towards his foot and kicked into his mouth, like a skilled sportsmen. He smiled and started foaming at the mouth until he wasn't moving. Clint went up to him and took his pulse.

"Nothing." He said "He is dead."

"How did he get that?" Fury asked "A suicide pill."

"You know as well as anyone that you can hide things anywhere." Clint reminded. "Too bad we will ever find out exactly how."

"We also will never found out why he did it." Natasha said. "Did you ever find out who the guy was?"

"We are doing background checks on him now." Fury said "We'll just have to wait until they are over to find out."

The two agents nodded. After calling some medical officials to remove the body the two of them followed Fury out of the holding cells.

"What are you going to do now?" Natasha asked Clint "I know you have no mission. Not one since the Ultron incident."

"I'm thinking of coming back to service." Hawkeye told her.

"Really?" Natasha asked "What did Laura say about that?"

"I don't want to say." Hawkeye re-iterated.

"Clint please just tell me something." Natasha pleaded. She decided to tell him about her situation with Banner to influence him to tell her something "Look Banner is not coming back and our relationship is pretty much doomed."

"Fine!" Clint almost shouted with a tear going down his face "We split up okay! We're getting a divorce."

 **So this is my first fanfic. I hope you like it. Please review if you wish to leave any criticism and so I know if you liked it or not. I don't have to continue with this fanfiction I can write another one if the response is negative. Also follow and favourite so you'll know when or if I update again.**


	2. Chapter 2

"What do you mean you are getting a divorce?" Natasha's face was filled with shock

"What do you think I mean?" Clint asked angrily "Laura and I are no longer together."

Natasha wanted to know why and how this happened but she could see that Hawkeye was getting emotional and that this conversation could be continued later. This situation was confusing to her. She thought back to when she stayed at the farm whilst Ultron was causing havoc. Clint and Laura looked like they were really in love and nothing between them seemed wrong. They had three children and everything seemed like it was the ideal family life.

"So what now?" Natasha asked.

"I need some time to clear my head." Clint told her "I went to Washington to do just that."

Natasha bit her lip. "So are you coming back to work now?"

"I wasn't intending to go straight back into it." Clint explained "But after what just happened I see that this world needs me." He changed his sad expression to a smug smile as he said this.

"I am returning to New York soon as the mission to protect the president is over." Natasha explained "I'm hoping Fury can find out who the guy who shot the general is whilst I'm there."

"Can I come with?" Clint asked.

"I'm not sure you are allowed to." She said "We have a new secret headquarters."

"Are you saying you don't trust me?" He said "After all you did think I was the killer."

"That was just a theory." Natasha tried to explain "And how did you know that?"

Before Clint could speak something in his pocket started beeping. He took a high-tech phone from his pocket. His eyes squinted as he seemed to read a message carefully.

"I have to go now." Clint said "Divorce problems." He tried to smile as if he said it as a joke but the expression went away quickly.

"Ok." She said "I'll be leaving for New York tomorrow at 9am so if you want to come with….."

"Noted." He interrupted "I'll try and be there." Before Natasha could say anything Clint waved goodbye and quickly left. Natasha stood silently reflecting on everything that was just said.

"Natasha." Someone said from behind her. She turned around and saw Nick Fury walking towards her.

"Yes sir?" she answered.

"What did Barton have to say," he asked.

"He told me about the divorce."

"What divorce?" Fury looked confused.

"He and Laura are splitting up." Natasha said "I thought you knew everything about everyone."

"When Hawkeye showed up in Washington I checked his file and nothing about it has changed." Fury explained.

"Well he said he was getting a divorce." Natasha said "It hasn't actually happened yet."

Fury nodded. "Anyway thanks for informing me of this." He continued "And have a fun trip back to New York."

Natasha waited for Clint at the Washington airport. She was being taken privately from there to the new headquarters and she had texted Clint where the plane was going to take off. But it was time for departure and Clint had yet to show up.

"Madam I'm sorry but we need to leave now." An air official told her.

"Can you wait a few more minutes please?" Natasha gave her cutest facial expression that never failed to persuade a straight male to do something for her. She tried it on Clint once and he didn't kill her.

"Okay madam I'll give you five minutes and that is it." He told her. Natasha smiled and went back to looking for Clint. She checked the phone to see if she'd received at text for him but there was nothing. As the time began to tick by Natasha shook her head in disappointment. She'd been looking forward to interacting with her old friend.

"We have to get on the plane now." The official told her. Natasha nodded and began to walk up the stairs to the plane.

"Wait!" she heard someone shouting from nearby. She turned around a saw Clint running towards them. Clint was out of breath by the time he walked up the stairs to where Natasha was.

"You need to improve your endurance." Natasha smiled playfully. Clint smiled back and walked onto the plane with her. The two sat silently during take-off but afterwards Natasha noticed that Clint was wearing an earpiece. "Why are you wearing that?" she asked.

"My hearing has been acting up again." Clint told her "I used to be able to go without them but I'm getting older."

"Is that why you were late?" she continued the conversation.

"No I just slept in a little." He looked embarrassed "I had a longer night out then planned."

Natasha nodded. "Is it too insensitive to ask about what happened between you and Laura?" She tried to not look at Clint as she said this as not to put too much pressure on him. He was her best friend after all and she didn't want him feeling uncomfortable. After a few seconds she looked up to see Clint's facial expression had changed. He was now just gazing out the window like he didn't know she was there. "Clint?" she tried to speak louder.

Clint seemed to get out of a daze and said "No it's fine." He told her. Natasha waited patiently for a response and saw Clint breathing in and out slowly.

"It was all good for a while having Laura and the children around all the time." He began to explain "But I began to miss my work. I've been trained for years to do this and it just has become part of my nature. I told Laura this one night when the kids had been put to bed and she became angry with me because I did promise her to not do that anymore. I agreed with her but the dynamic between us changed since then. I began sneaking my bow and arrow out at night to practice and she noticed one night and thought I was cheating on her with someone. I told her about how I was going out to practice and we got into argument about what was more important and she stormed out the house angrily. The next day she said she'd had enough and that it was too stressful to be married to a thrill seeker, especially with three children to look after, so she said she wanted to get a divorce."

Clint's face started to flood with tears. Natasha wrapped one arm around him to console him "I should never have gotten my arrows out again." Natasha was holding back tears as she knew if she cried that it would make him cry even harder.

"Laura will realise she has made a mistake." Natasha tried to find a positive. "She was just reacting spur of the moment."

"Then why hasn't she returned any of my calls or texts." Hawkeye said between breaths.

"She is just taking time away just like you were." She began "It'll take time."

"Thanks for understanding Nat." Clint tried to smile.

The rest of the flight was Natasha comforting Clint. She knew that any of the other Avengers would give him a hard time for crying so she thought it would be best for him to stop before they arrived. Hawkeye managed to stop crying and began to feel better. Once they arrived the two of them left the plane and Clint saw the new headquarters for the first time.

"I prefer the old tower." Clint told Natasha.

"Because it was a luxury mansion?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah exactly." He explained "And it was really tall."

The two walked into the base and after a security check planned to meet up with Captain America. When they walked into Steve's room they saw someone else who was also familiar. Tony Stark and Rogers both turned around to look at them as they entered.

"Clint?" Steve and Tony said in unison.

"It is me." Clint said "I have officially returned."

"This isn't a sitcom." Tony laughed.

"Nice to have you back Barton." Steve said politely. "How was your mission Natasha?"

"I'm sure you saw on the news that a general got shot by an unknown assassin during a speech." Natasha said "Luckily Clint was there to catch him but then he took a suicide pill and we are still running the details we know about him through our databases."

"So you failed at your mission?" Tony smiled.

"No my mission was to protect the president and I accomplished that mission." Natasha explained vigorously.

"Don't try to argue with that one." Clint said quietly to Tony as he remembered he made similar points to her the day before.

"So what are you doing here?" Natasha tried to change the subject.

"I'm personally delivering some new technology here." Tony Stark stated to brag. "It is a…."

"Confidential matter." Steve interrupted "Which cannot be discussed with them." Natasha nodded knowingly whilst Hawkeye looked slightly disappointed.

"Do you want us to leave?" Natasha asked.

"That would be productive." Steve said. Natasha nodded and left the room. Clint followed her slowly.

"So what now?" Clint asked.

"Until those results come in I might as well catch up on my training." Natasha told him. Natasha playfully punched Clint's shoulder.

"Ow!" Hawkeye said louder than expected "Don't do that."

"That wasn't hard at all." Natasha was confused "Is there something wrong with your arm?"

"No…nothing." Hawkeye began to stutter nervously "I can still shoot straight and punch hard and eat breakfast without anything…"

He looked at Natasha and saw her glaring at him.

"Why are you lying to me Clint?" Natasha asked angrily.

"I'm not lying!" Clint began to shout.

Natasha grabbed for Clint's long sleeved shirt and quickly pulled it up before he could react. She saw a large bandage with several bruises around it.

"Clint….." she was almost out of words "Please tell me what happened….."

 **End of another chapter! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter as much as the first. Thankyou** oreo8u9453, Fury-Natalia, Lucy Annabeth Potter **and** Niom Lamboise **who gave feedback for the previous chapter and I hope that I continue getting reviews in the future. Please also follow and favourite if you liked. I'll be away for a few days so I won't be able to update but please don't lose faith or anything. :D**


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm not lying to you." Clint mumbled nervously. Natasha glared at him angrily. "I just didn't want to seem weak or anything."

"What do you mean?" Natasha was confused.

"I just spent a whole plane trip crying about my freakin' divorce so I think I've shown enough vulnerability for a lifetime." Clint explained.

"Then how did you get that injury on your arm?" Natasha once again looked at Clint's bruises and the bandage. If she hadn't been an agent who was used to wounds she would have been a little disgusted by the injury.

Clint sighed and began to explain. "You didn't really think catching that guy was as easy as I made it seem?" Clint tried to smile smugly but ended up looking awkward.

Natasha looked at Clint closely. He saw a certain twitch in his eye that she had often associated with Clint lying. She shook her head in disappointment.

"You are not telling me the truth!" Natasha almost shouted angrily

"I am telling the truth." Clint defended himself

Natasha looked at Clint and rolled her eyes. "Fine then Clint." She gave in "I need to go train for my next mission. Don't bother joining me." Natasha walked away from Clint and left him standing alone.

Natasha was hitting a punching bag to release all her anger. One punch was for all the secrets Clint was keeping. Another punch was for her complete failure to catch the assassin. Another punch was for Clint for acting reckless in his marriage. One big punch was for Laura who was causing Clint a lot of pain.

"Natasha are you alright?" she heard someone with a thick accent say. She turned around and saw Wanda Maximoff walk into the room.

"I'm fine Wanda." Natasha responded "I'm just training."

"Do you usually train so hard?" Wanda asked curiously.

"Only when I have emotions to fight against." Natasha took a big punch to the side of the bag and caused a small amount of pain in her fist. She hid this from Wanda and left a blank expression on her face. Wanda shrugged unknowingly and went over to a set of weights at the side of the room.

"I heard from Falcon that Hawkeye has returned." Wanda began conversing as she lifted one of the smaller weights with her mind. Natasha looked in wonder at the red glare coming from her fingertips as the weight went higher and higher. "Is that the reason why your emotions are what you fight?"

"Clint has been acting weird lately. And he has been so emotional." Natasha confided in Wanda. It was nice to finally have a girl in the team to discuss her problems with. Before this all she had to talk to were Pepper or Jane and they saw Natasha as a threat.

"I understand your concern." Wanda empathised "It seems like you and the Hawk have a strong brother-sister relationship. An unbreakable bond."

"That is certainly true." Natasha told her. "You do know why that is right?"

"No." Wanda shook her head.

"Clint was sent on a mission to kill me when I was still a spy for the Russians." Natasha began "But when we met he didn't kill me and instead personally recommended me to Fury to become an agent. Without him my life would be so much…worse."

Wanda stood still and listened as she said this. She then picked up a heavier weight and lifted into the air with her powers. "If your relationship is so good then why are you so emotional right now?"

"Clint is lying to me and I don't understand why." Natasha took a swing at the bag with her other fist and this time felt more pain. Her face showed a little discomfort but she covered it up quickly.

Wanda dropped the weight back down. "If you want I can delve into his mind and see what is up." Wanda said. She threw a gang sign into the air with her fingers like she was trying to be cool. Natasha giggled a little. She had seen Tony Stark say similar slang whilst in Sokovia and she hadn't stopped trying it since.

"That would be dishonest." Natasha shook her head. Wanda looked disappointed. She took a large dumbbell that Steve likes to use for his training and began concentrating with her mind. Slowly the weight began to lift until it was above her head. When it was getting too heavy Wanda set the dumbbell back onto the bar that it had come from.

"Impressive." Natasha smiled a little.

"It is a workout for the mind. Much better than Lumosity ever was." Wanda joked "Anyways I should go as an agent is coming towards this room to speak to you now."

"What?" Natasha was confused but as Wanda left the room an agent in a SHIELD uniform came into the room.

"Fury wants to talk to you." He told Natasha "He is on the video phone right now." Natasha nodded and she followed the agent out of the training room.

Natasha saw Fury's face on a screen in front of her. She was by herself in the room with the door firmly shut and locked as Fury insisted on privacy.

"We finally managed to get some information on the assassin and the results are…." Fury stopped for a second to find a word "interesting to say the least."

"Explain?" Natasha was curious.

"Well we had an analysis of his fingerprints done and got no results. We then did a facial scan and a retina scan and nothing came up either. It was almost like someone erased him from the system." Fury began to explain "So we decided to do an analysis of his DNA to see who it matched up with him the most out of anyone in the database and you'll never guess who that person was."

"Okay if I will never guess you might as well tell me." Natasha looked at him sternly.

"Clint Barton." Fury looked straight at Natasha when he said this "Who was the person who brought him in."

"What?" Natasha said shocked "He matched up closely with Clint Barton?" Fury nodded. "How are they related?"

"That much we don't know as he is in none of ou databases and according to the entry on Clint all his relatives other than his own children are deceased."

"I have to tell you something sir." Natasha began to say "Clint has been acting really strange lately. I think he is lying to us for some reason."

"You don't think he has something to do with this?" Fury asked.

"I think he might but I just can't get my mind to believe it." Natasha felt conflicted. This was her best friend and suddenly she felt like she couldn't trust him. "What do you want me to do?"

"Do you know the location of Barton right now?" Fury asked.

"He is here at the Avenger's base right now." Natasha told him.

"So you just led him into one of the most private bases in the world?" Fury said firmly to Natasha.

"I had no reason to not trust him." Natasha lied. She did suspect a little that Clint wasn't what he seemed back then "And he is kind of an Avenger so going to the Avengers base of operations didn't seem like a risk."

"Natasha." Fury began to say "Clint has been off our radar for months. He is no longer an Avenger and you have to from now on treat him as such."

"But if I tell him to go away he'll suspect something is up." Natasha rebutted. "That is of course if he has somehow turned evil."

"I want you to keep him in your sight all the time." Fury ordered.

"That shouldn't be too hard." Natasha told him. "I think I'd better begin on that immediately."

"Ok good luck Agent." Fury said. "Goodbye." The image of him disappeared and Natasha let out a breath of anxiety. She knew Clint was lying about something but she couldn't believe that he'd turned criminal or anything. She shook her head as if to get her mind back in order. She unlocked the room's door and opened it revealing the base's ground floor. She left the room at a brisk pace to try to find where Clint was.

She was walking through one of the hallways of the base looking around for where Clint would be. Finding Clint could be difficult as she knew he had a knack for going to unreachable places like the top of buildings or crawling through the air vents. Walking around the base searching for him like a lost puppy wasn't going to accomplish much. She saw Steve walking towards her from the other direction and stopped him politely.

"Sorry Steve but I have an important question." Natasha said to him.

"Ok Natasha what is it?" he asked politely.

"Have you seen Clint?" she said "I kind of got angry at him earlier and I want to apologise." She lied through her teeth about that but she needed some excuse for why she wanted to find him.

"I believe I last saw him talking to Stark earlier." Steve said "It was in room A113. Do you know where that is?"

"First floor. Hallway A, Room 13, yeah I do." Natasha said. She smiled at Steve and waved goodbye. Steve went back on his path and Natasha began to take the nearby set of stairs up to the first floor.

She walked towards the room A113 and saw Tony and Clint near the entrance of it. Tony seemed to have told a joke and the two were laughing. It was the happiest she had seen Clint since they first saw each other in Washington. She was a little disappointed that she wasn't the one who made him smile like that.

"Hi…" Natasha interrupted awkwardly.

"Hi Natasha." Clint gulped when he saw her.

"Hey Agent Romanov." Stark said "Did you really accuse this nice, sweet man of lying to you?"

Natasha couldn't believe Clint told Stark. "Yeah that is why I am here." Natasha said "I wanted to apologise. I'm sorry for not believing you and if you are lying I am sure it is for the right reasons." Natasha tried a smile to seem convincing.

"Thanks Nat that means a lot." Clint said. Natasha tried to look at his facial mannerisms and it seemed he was telling the truth for once. "Stark and I were going to get some lunch. Do you want to join us?"

Natasha's mission was to stay with Clint so she replied quickly "Yeah ok." Clint and Tony walked out of the room and towards the stairs. She couldn't help feel suspicious of Clint's behaviour now she knew about the assassin's identity. Why was he getting lunch with Stark? Why did he accept her apology so readily? Why was he even here?

"Stop thinking like that." She told herself. She followed the two of them and took a deep breath to help her calm down. This was going to be hard.

 **Yay! Another chapter complete! I can't wait to read what you thought of it so please review if you liked it or want to give constructive feedback. Also follow and favourite if you want to keep up with when I update. It will be interesting to see where I take Clint during this story. Is he a bad guy? Or is it all just a misunderstanding? And I know some of you want Clintasha to happen in this story so we'll see where that goes. Thanks** Niom Lamboise, katara-zuko1714, Fury-Natalia **and** Ninja0404 is a fanfiction geek **(aren't we all LOL) for reviewing since I last published. Love you all and I hope you enjoyed it :D.**


	4. Chapter 4

Natasha followed Clint and Tony into the base's cafeteria where people who worked there got their meals during lunch breaks. They lined up and were given that days meal which was a hamburger with fries and salad. As they sat down at one of the tables Tony looked at it with disgust.

"Is this really what you eat everyday?" he asked Natasha with repulsion.

"Not everyone can afford the lifestyle you do Tony." Natasha said "We can't all eat caviar for lunch."

Tony reluctantly took a bite from it. "It is lucky there is a lot of sauce on it to hide any bad taste."

"So why are you at the base Tony?" Clint swiftly changed the topic. Natasha wondered if Clint was obtaining private information to give to an evil superior or to cause worldwide destruction. She immediately took the thought out of her mind and assumed Clint was just starting a conversation.

"Didn't you listen to The Captain before?" Tony asked "Completely private."

"We understand." Natasha said before Clint could say anything.

"We aren't going to steal any new form of technology you are selling to SHIELD." Clint said casually. Natasha looked suspiciously at him.

"I've already sold it to SHIELD." Tony explained. "And I don't see any harm in telling both of you since you are both Avengers."

"Clint is no longer an Avenger." Natasha thought of what Fury told her on the phone. "And we should treat him as such."

"Natasha?" Clint looked offended "What do you mean?"

"You left the Avengers remember?" Natasha said "You can't just waltz back in here and pretend everything is back to normal."

"But once an Avenger, always an Avenger." Clint said. Tony laughed a little when he said this. Natasha looked at Tony and sighed. Trying to make excuses to why Tony can't tell Clint this private information would soon get difficult so she asked Stark:

"Can I please talk to you in private?"

"I guess so…." Tony was confused. "You aren't going to kiss me are you?"

"Ew no." Natasha said in disgust. She turned to Clint and said "Don't go anywhere."

"Where would I go?" Clint asked curiously like he was trying to get Natasha to admit something.

"Probably up an air vent." Tony laughed "Remember that time you got stuck and we had to…." But before Tony could finish Black Widow pulled him away to a spot a distance enough for Clint not to hear them but close enough for her to keep an eye on Barton.

"Tony you cannot tell Clint about why you are here." Natasha insisted. She looked over at Clint from where she was and he looked innocent enough as he took a bite of his hamburger.

"Why not?" Tony asked.

"Fury has asked me to keep an eye on him because he and the assassin from Washington have similar DNA." Natasha detailed "That and the fact he has been lying to me recently has made me have my doubts too."

"What do you want me to say then?" Stark asked. "It will look strange if I followed the rules."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "No it won't. Just pretend you are scared Steve will get angry or something."

"I think I can make that believable." Tony thought aloud. Natasha and Tony walked back to the table but saw Clint was no longer there.

"Where'd he go?" Tony asked.

"I only took my eye off of him for a second!" Natasha stated freaking out. "This is all your fault." She glared at Stark.

"Why is it my fault?" Tony asked surprised.

"Your stupidity made me have to talk to you in private and damn this is the second mission in a row I have failed at!"

"You didn't fail your last mission." Tony said "You yelled at me for saying that."

"Clint was right I should have saved the president and the general and caught the assassin." Natasha began pacing around the cafeteria looking for him.

"Calm down Natasha we'll find him." Tony reassured "He can't have gone far."

"Clint is no Pietro but he still is very quick and agile." Natasha tried to think in her mind. Where could have Clint gone? She hoped Clint hadn't gone to a secret part of the base and stole something. She knew she would get the blame. Black Widow took a deep breath but someone tapped her on the shoulder. She reacted quickly and grabbed the person's arm.

"Ouch." The person behind her said "That arm hurts remember?" It was Clint who had seemed too returned magically.

"I told you we'd find him." Tony Stark boasted smugly. Natasha glared at Tony.

"Where did you go?" Natasha raised her voice as she asked this.

"I went to the toilet." Clint began looking from Tony to Natasha and back to Tony in confusion "I hadn't been since we arrived from Washington."

"Oh." Natasha let go of Clint. "Is that all you did?"

"Yeah." Clint sat back down. Natasha cursed in her mind. She did it once again. She assumed Clint had run off to destroy everything when there was a simple explanation. When she sat down she put her face in her elbows almost in embarrassment. She needed to find a way to calm her mind down.

"So Steve said he'd cut my head off with his Shield if I told anyone about it." Tony lied to Clint. Clint nodded as if he understood.

"That seems a little harsh for Steve." Clint thought aloud.

Tony stood nervously not knowing what to say. Unlike Natasha and Clint he wasn't trained to lie as his job.

"It obviously shows how important this is." Natasha interrupted. Stark nodded in agreement. The three of them had finished lunch and were walking down a base hallway.

"I've got to go and…" Tony stopped to think but the best he could come up with was "Do something so I'll see you around."

Tony waved goodbye and Clint and Natasha returned the gesture. That left the two of them to walk awkwardly in silence down the hallway.

"It is weird how so much has changed." Clint interrupted the silence.

"I like it now with Wanda and Vision but I do sometimes feel nostalgic for the olden days with the old team." Natasha told Clint "Remember the Avengers tower and how we had to deal with Thor's sick eating habits."

"He'd eat all the Poptarts and I never got any." Clint laughed "I'd have to eat plain old toast instead."

"Poor Little Hawk." Natasha said sarcastically. It was then she realised that for the first time since the call with Fury she had forgotten about him being possibly evil.

"We were like a family though," Clint said "And now both my families are gone." Clint stood in silence for a second. Natasha noted a small frown beginning to form on his face.

"Are you sure you don't have any other family?" Natasha remembered that the assassin had similar DNA to him.

"What do you mean?" Clint was confused.

"I don't remember if you told me this before…" Natasha lied as she and Clint had discussed each other's relatives many times "But do you have any uncles or brothers or parents?"

"You know all my relatives are no longer alive." Clint re-iterated. There it was again. The small movement on top of the eye that Natasha associated with Clint lying. Natasha thought about the other times Clint told him about his family and he didn't do that before.

"Are you sure?" Natasha asked. She decided to lie a little to see if Clint would reciprocate "I actually recently found a distant cousin of mine from Russia. We are now pen pals."

"Unfortunately I wouldn't know." Clint was starting to look nervous "Can we please change the topic?"

"And why would we need to do that?" Natasha asked

"BECAUSE YOU ARE MAKING ME UNCOMFORTABLE!" Clint actually shouted angrily at Natasha. Natasha saw a familiar tint of blue in Clint's eyes that he told her came back sometimes at tense moments. Before she could react Clint grabbed her and pushed her against the wall. Natasha's shoulder crashed against it and she immediately felt a lot of pain. Suddenly Clint regained his senses and realised what he had done.

"Natasha." He said emotionally "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to…" Clint was on the verge of tears. He tried to walk toward Natasha to comfort her.

"Don't come near me." Natasha was suddenly scared of her friend.

"Natasha I didn't mean to I swear."

This commotion had caught the attention of other people in the base who had all stopped their work and came out of their offices to see what was happening. This included Steve and Wanda who looked in shock at Natasha who was now on the ground holding her shoulder with a painful expression on her face. Clint looked frightened at what everyone was seeing.

"What is happening here?" Steve asked seriously.

"I didn't mean to I swear…" Clint said again before anyone else could say anything. Natasha tried to get up and almost struggled with her sore shoulder.

"I think we need medical attention." Wanda said in her thick accent. "I can take her to the medical centre."

"No." Natasha interrupted with a groan of pain accidentally leaving her lips. She had to stay with Clint even though she feared him now. "I want Barton to come with me."

Steve gave Natasha a confused look but ever since The Hydra incident the two had learned to trust each other so he gave an approving nod. "Ok but I want Wanda to go with you as well. To keep you safe." Steve glared at Clint then. Clint looked at Steve with an awkward expression.

Luckily only Natasha's shoulder was in pain and she could still walk so she didn't really need anyone to take her anywhere. But it was nice to have Wanda so readily volunteer to take her there. The walk there however wasn't a pleasant stroll as Clint was there and she could feel an awkward tension between Maximoff and Barton. It had been that way between them since Pietro gave his life for Clint and Wanda had confided to Natasha once that she wished her brother never did that. Not that she'd readily admit that ever to anyone else.

The three of them walked into the medical centre which had a couple of nurses, a doctor's office, a waiting area and a recovery area which had beds and seats for patients.

"What is wrong?" One of the nurses asked.

"My shoulder is in a lot of pain." Natasha explained.

"And why is that?" The nurse asked curiously.

Natasha looked awkwardly towards Clint and made up something in her head. "During a training exercise I ran into a wall." If the situation weren't so serious she would have laughed at how false this lie was. The nurse gestured for her to go into a doctor's office.

"Let me look at your shoulder." The doctor ordered. The doctor inspected the area where she felt pain. "It doesn't seem too bad. Nothing is broken but there is a fairly nasty bruise. I'll put a bandage around it and I recommend you keep off the arm for a day."

Natasha smiled and was grateful that it wasn't too bad. "Thanks Doc." Natasha nodded. Suddenly there was some commotion outside the office like a fight was going on. Natasha realised she left Wanda and Clint alone in the waiting area. She quickly leapt out of the room to see what had happened.

 **Wow I keep writing more and more for each chapter. I really wanted to keep writing but all of you will unfortunately have to wait until the next chapter to see what happens. This chapter saw some scary actions from Clint and I hope that doesn't detract anyone from the story. Thankyou everyone who followed and favourited and please do so if you already haven't. Thank you** Ninja0404 is a fanfiction geek, katara-zuko1714 **and** Niom Lamboise **for reviewing and I REALLY appreciate it so please continue doing so. If you haven't reviewed yet please do so also so I know how you are all feeling about the newest chapter. Thanks again for reading and I love all of you who have read this :D.**


	5. Chapter 5

Natasha rushed out of the doctor's office to see what the commotion was. She saw that Wanda had a red glow from her fingertips to around Hawkeye's head. Meanwhile Clint was attempting to move his fists towards Wanda's but her powers were stopping her from doing so. Natasha saw that familiar blue tint in Clint's eye.

"You can't control my mind." Hawkeye smiled "Loki already tried that and now no one can!"

"I'm a lot stronger then I was the last time Hawk." Wanda boasted and concentrated more on her powers. "This time Pietro won't be here to save you."

"I don't need him to protect me." Clint said. Before anything else could happen Natasha decided to try and stop the fight.

"Wanda! Clint!" Natasha interrupted "Stop fighting now!"

The two turned towards her and the red and blue colours from both of them disappeared.

"What are you fighting about?" Natasha asked.

"Clint thinks he is a good agent even when he can't even protect himself AND when he hurts his colleagues." Wanda explained "He of cause disagreed and…"

"Hypocrite." Clint said "You were just trying to hurt me." Wanda rolled her eyes.

"No fighting!" Natasha told them. "Come on Clint let's get out of here." Natasha used her good arm to pull Clint out of the medical area. She weakly smiled at Wanda as she left her.

"I'm so sorry Natasha." Clint apologised "It is just…." Clint stopped himself.

"Just what?" Natasha asked.

"I can't tell you." Hawkeye said.

"Clint!" Natasha shouted "Can you PLEASE just tell me what is going on with you at the moment?"

Clint began shaking. He adjusted his hearing aid.

"I would love to tell you." Clint said "But I can't. I just can't Natasha."

Natasha looked sternly at Clint and sighed. "Why not?"

"Sorry I've got no choice." Clint explained. He tried to walk away.

"Don't go. "Natasha added "You can't go!"

"Why not?" Clint said.  
"I….just….." Natasha tried to give a reason. However before she could continue an agent in a SHIELD uniform came up to them.

"Sorry Agent Barton but I've been asked to walk you to the holding cells." He said.

"What?" Both Clint and Natasha asked simultaneously. Natasha hoped Fury didn't set this up as that would show they knew about the assassin.

"We have gotten word that you have been causing some commotion around the base." He said "Fighting in the hallways and the medical area is strictly prohibited. Once was looked over but twice is not acceptable"

"And you want to take me to a holding cell?" Clint was shocked. He looked at Natasha as if for help and then back at the agent.

"Are you sure about this sir?" Natasha asked.

"I'm afraid I have to force myself to be insistent." The agent added.

Clint stood still for a second as if awaiting someone to tell him what to do. He nodded and turned towards the agent.

"Ok I'll go to cells." He said. This put Natasha in an interesting situation. She'd have to leave Clint as but at least now she'd know where he was at all times.

The guard had taken Clint down to the cells. Natasha decided to see if she could visit him whilst he was in there.

"I'm sorry but you can't." The security officer told her.

"You really think I'd try and help him escape?" Natasha asked. The security officer nodded.

"You two are famously friends so I do."

Natasha decided it was about time to call Fury again since she had tried to keep an eye on Clint and it didn't end up so well. She went to the same room as last time and talked to him on the video phone.

"Hello Natasha." Fury said to her.

"I'm here to give and receive updates on our current situation." Natasha told him

"I have received news of Clint being locked up in your holding cells. Is this really true?" Fury asked. Natasha gulped.

"Well he was causing fights." Natasha explained "He pushed me into a wall and then had a fight with Wanda." Fury nodded.  
"I think we need Clint on more watch." Fury said "We don't want him causing more trouble especially since the assassin is like him."

"Is there more information on the assassin?" Natasha asked.

"No unfortunately the Clint connection is all we have." Fury thought to himself for a second "I think we need to take more action."

"What do you mean sir?" Natasha asked.

"There is no need to keep this from Clint any longer." He said "I will tell the security guards that you can have access to his cell and you can ask Clint about this."

"Okay sir." Natasha said. The image of Fury disappeared.

Natasha was led down to Clint by two guards. She saw him sitting in his cell and he looked up at her. He adjusted his ear piece as he stood up to greet her.

"Thank God Natasha." He sounded relieved and he smiled "I was feeling so lonely."

"I'm not here for a friendly chat." Natasha warned "I've been sent by Fury to ask you some serious questions."

Clint's facial expression changed from happiness to seriousness.

"I wouldn't know what you want to ask." Clint said. Natasha saw the involuntarily movement above his eye again. She decided to hide her disappointment at this.

"It is about the assassin that you caught in Washington." She explained "Fury has done some identification tests on him."

"Did they find anything?" Clint asked calmly.

"They did actually." Natasha looked at Clint and saw an expression of confusion. "They found his DNA was the most similar to yours out of anyone in database."

"What?" Clint looked like he was questioning Natasha but she could tell something was up.

"We just wanted to know if you knew anything about him." Natasha told him.

"It must be a coincidence….." Clint said before Natasha interrupted him.

"Coincidence." She said angrily "You know that coincidences don't exist in our business!"

Clint took a deep breath as if he were contemplating something. He looked to left and to the right nervously and began to fidget with his fingers. Natasha hadn't seen him so nervous before and she'd known him for a while.

"I can't tell you anything." Clint said "But do you know how I told you about the Victor? Well that isn't true. In fact she is in control."

"What?" Natasha felt confused. Why did Clint suddenly start making no sense?

"As I said I don't know anything." Clint looked straight at Natasha. "I have no new information to tell you." He adjusted his earpiece again like a nervous habit. He coughed and attempted to smile at Natasha. She sighed in disappointment.

"Thanks Clint." Natasha turned around "I'll see you after you're done in here." She left silently.

Natasha was with Steve in his office. He had a security camera from the cell that Clint was in and they were watching it. Clint wasn't doing anything but sitting in his cell and only occasionally would he do something like stand up, stretch or touch his ears.

"What did he say to you in the cell?" Steve asked. Fury had told him about what Natasha was working on and how Clint had similar DNA to the assassin.

"Just the same old 'I know nothing it is a coincidence'" Natasha put up quotation fingers when she said this.

"Is that it?" Steve asked.

"He started saying something completely random that made no sense." Natasha told him.

"Can you remember what it was?" Steve asked.

Natasha shrugged. "Yeah he said ' _Do you know how I told you about the Victor. Well that isn't true. In fact she is in control'_."

Steve stood there quietly and thought to himself. "I came from World War Two where random stuff like that was sent around." He explained "Whilst it sounded weird it actually turned to be important information that needed to be kept safe."

Natasha's eyes widen in realisation "Are you saying it is some form of code?"

"Yes."

Natasha paced back and forth in the room as she thought of any code with that form. Then a thought came to her head.

"I need a computer!" she demanded. Steve quickly gave her an unused one from his desk and Natasha logged on using her SHIELD password and began using Google. As Natasha began delving more and more into the search engine her facial expression changed to one of complete terror.

"Oh My God." Natasha began to say in shock. "I think I know what he was trying to say….." A tear fell down her face.

 **And that is where I'll end this chapter. This chapter is shorter but I wanted to end it right there on that cliff-hanger. Thank you once again for following and favouriting and I hope readers continue doing so in the future. The same applies to reviewers as I always LOVE hearing feedback. Thanks** Niom Lamboise, Fury-Natalia, katara-zuko1714, GabycatStark13, Ninja0404 is a fanfiction geek, GuardianGirl24 **and** . **Just a heads up though I am back at college after holidays so I'll be posting less and less often so don't be mad if I take a long time to post. Love you all :D.**


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